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Microsoft has ramped up the pop-up ads in Windows 10 again

Edgy behaviour is starting to annoy. Again

SHITE-PEDDLING no-goodnick operating system firm Microsoft has started putting pop-up ads in the taskbar of Windows 10 in order to sell more of its services.

After promising that its GMX application, which spent most of 2015 into 2016 trying to nag you into upgrading, would go away now the free upgrade period is over, the same intrusive tactics have been used to try to persuade people to sign up for the firm's rewards programme.

We've not spotted that one, but we have noticed that Cortana has become a complete pain in the AI if you try to leave it switched off.

In fact, users have also reported seeing 'tips' suggesting a switch to Microsoft Edge to save battery, which is a whole other can of worms after the summer’s browser wars, coupled with the fact that Edge remains a half-finished browser that performs abysmally in terms of use.

It means that Microsoft is not giving a 'tip' (implies help) but rather an 'endorsement' (based on its own best interests).

Microsoft will doubtless assure us all that you can turn off these pop-ups in the settings. Deep down in the settings, probably in some sub-menu of a sub-menu.

The bottom line is that Microsoft knows damn well that pop-ups are going to put noses out of joint. Updategate showed us that. However, this is something even more insidious, because it's a definitive decision to carry on doing it anyway.

This is the new reality of the Windows operating system, and it looks like Microsoft doesn’t care much whether you like it or not. µ